Statues - Hither & Thither

 

Description

Ten large statues made of volcanic stone of menceyes (Guanche kings) who ruled at the end of the 15th century the aboriginal Guanche menceyatos, the pre-Castillian kingdoms of Tenerife. They are the descendants of mencey Tinerfe the Great, who had his court in Adeje (one hundred years before the conquest) and ruled over the entire island. He had nine legitimate children and one bastard son, Guahuco, and divided the island into nine menceyatos (kingdoms). The bastard son ruled the region of Punta del Hidalgo, being the smallest and poorest menceyato on the island; he was succeeded by his son Zebensui.

These statues stood originally on the Plaza Patrona de Canarias, but were soon detoriated by the influence of the sea. In 1993 they were replaced by nine bronze statues made by José Abad (see here). The tenth statue, of Zebensui, was not made in bronze.
Around 2000, the original stone statues were placed along the Rambla de los Menceyes.
Idenfication of eight of the statues was possible with help of the postcard 'Los Guanches y su Virgen', showing the ten statues with their names - however, for Pelicar and Romen the same statue was illustrated on the postcard, photographed from a different angle. The names in capitals below are those from the postcard.

PELICAR (or Romen) king of Menceyato de Adeje (or Daute) (Pelicar: Wikipedia).	PELINOR king of Menceyato de Icode (Wikipedia).	BENCOMO king of Menceyato de Taoro (Wikipedia).
AÑATERVE king of Menceyato de Güímar (Wikipedia).	TEGUESTE II king of Menceyato de Tegueste (Wikipedia).	ATXOÑA Adjoña, king of Menceyato de Abona (Wikipedia).
BENEHARO king of Menceyato de Anaga (Wikipedia).	ZEBENZUI Zebensui, ruler of Punta del Hidalgo	ROMEN (or Pelicar) king of Menceyato de Daute (or Adeje) (Romen: Wikipedia).
ACAYMO king of Menceyato de Tacoronte (Wikipedia).

Old Postcard(s)

 
Click on the thumbnail for an enlargement.

Sculptor

• Alfredo Reyes Darías (1922 - 2005), Spanish sculptor, poet, photographer and author of tourist guides (Information)

Sources & Information

• Mirame TV, Mencey Plasencia.
• Manolo Ramos, En 2009 se conmemorarán los 50 años de la Consagración de la Basílica.
• Maria del Carmen Fraga Gonzalez, Plazas de Tenerife (La Laguna, 1973), p. 59-60 (PDF on-line).

Tags

Locatie (N 28°21'50" - W 16°22'1") (Satellite view: Google Maps)

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